Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Voting in September

 ARD (public TV, Channel One) carried a good update on the voting situation, and is worth viewing.

From the 2017 vote....around one-third of Germans voted by postal ballots.  The government tends to believe the same, if not more, will occur on 26 September.  

Fraud suggestions (like in the US)?  No.  If you look at how the ballots are controlled and mailed out, 99.9-percent of Germans see this as a honest and non-fraudulent situation.  

You only get the ballot, if you are registered in your village (as mandated by law anyway), an national ID card is shown, and only if you ask for a ballot.  If you asked for a mail-ballot, they aren't going to allow you to show up on voting day and possibly cast two votes. 

If you used the term 'organized'?  I'd say that the Germans go to the ninth-degree on regulations, and would feel insulted for anyone to suggest fraud in voting or counting. 

Another thing which ought to be mentioned....when the voting concludes on that Sunday.....anyone can ask to stand in the room/facility and view the counting.  There's no funny rules to limit access.  They might put up a rope to keep you on one side of the room, or limit the number of viewers to what would be 'safe'.  There is generally an enormous amount of effort to show fair and accountable voting, and counting.

No comments: